Time Travel: Volume 1! Starting from a Small Mountain Village

"Captain, there are no problems with any of this." Long Lifan had clearly told Hu Lili about these things before they came, so what the captain said was within their expectations.

"However, we are new here and don't know how much it will cost to build a house."

"That depends on what style of house you're building and how big it is!"

"I want to build something simple." Long Lifan took out a sketch she had drawn from her bag, which included a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom! "As for the building materials, just like in the village, adobe bricks will do!"

Long Lifan had considered building brick houses. However, the Dongwan Brigade was still too poor, and if she started doing that right away, it would inevitably cause unnecessary trouble.

Hu Lili wanted a brick house, and she wanted it to be big so it would be much more comfortable to live in. She wasn't very bright, but she knew that following Long Zhiqing would definitely be good, so she chose the same arrangement as Long Lifan!

“In that case!” Lin Guodong pondered for a moment, “I’ve roughly calculated that it would cost about 70 yuan to build such a house! Labor costs are separate. Here, the daily wage is 3 mao (0.3 yuan) without meals! If meals are included, it’s 2 mao (0.2 yuan).

"How long will it take to build?" The price was within Long Lifan's acceptable range.

"The weather is nice now. If construction starts tomorrow, you can move into your new house in about two weeks!"

“Captain, you know we’ve just arrived and are unfamiliar with the area, so please take good care of us when it comes to building the houses!” Long Lifan thought for a moment and then said, “How about I take out a hundred yuan first, and give me more if it’s not enough later?”

"Me too!"

“You… okay!” Lin Guodong agreed without much hesitation, as the construction of houses by educated youth would be a source of income for the village.

Have you decided where to build the house?

"I've decided, it'll be on flat ground 200 meters away from the educated youth settlement!"

Long Lifan had already done her research. The location was good, not too far from the village and the educated youth settlement. If anything happened, she could shout and be heard.

"Okay, I'll go register with the accountant later, and we can start work tomorrow!"

"By the way, Captain, we were discussing building a house. Jiang Zhiqing doesn't know about it, but I think she wants to build a house too. We'll tell her when we get back tonight."

"Okay, I'll prepare in advance!"

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Captain." Long Lifan put down the wine and some brown sugar she had brought and said, "It's my first time here, and I didn't know what to bring. This is just a small token of my appreciation." Without waiting for Lin Guodong to refuse, she grabbed Hu Lili and ran out!

"Hey, you guys...!" As the brigade leader, he had received gifts before, but this was the first time he had received such a generous gift. It seemed that he had to pay more attention to the house construction.

"You have something to say!" Long Lifan asked, looking at Hu Lili, who had been staring at her ever since she came out of the brigade leader's house.

"We have money, why don't we build bigger and nicer houses?"

“You’re thinking too simply!” Long Lifan smiled and continued, “You’ve seen the situation in Dongwan Brigade. If we build the houses too well, we’ll definitely have endless troubles in the future.”

"As for why we didn't build a bigger one, it's obviously to prevent other people from living with us!"

"We built this house ourselves, how can anyone else live in it?" Hu Lili stared wide-eyed, completely bewildered.

“Now, educated youth are constantly going to the countryside every year, but only a handful return. What if one day the educated youth settlements are full? Do you think the brigade leader and the others will arrange for them to stay with us?”

"If we accept it, we'll feel uncomfortable letting others live in the house we built ourselves; if we don't accept it, we're afraid people will say we're not united and that our comrades are causing division."

"So, rather than being caught in a dilemma later, it's better to nip other people's ideas in the bud from the very beginning!"

"Wow!" Hu Lili exclaimed after listening to Long Lifan's analysis, "Why is it that we were both sent-down youth, but I don't have your brain! If I had your brain, I wouldn't have..."

Upon hearing this, Long Lifan smiled. She had only gained this advantage by being a time traveler and having read a few more time-travel novels. If she had grown up in the city, being suddenly ordered to go to the countryside might have made her worse off than most people here.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. We should keep a low profile from now on."

"Oh I see!"

The two returned to the educated youth settlement. It was still early, and the older educated youth hadn't finished work yet. The new educated youth were nowhere to be seen either; they must have gone to the back hill to gather firewood. She remembered hearing them mention it when she left!

"I'm planning to go to the back hill to collect some firewood, do you want to come?"

"Ah, okay, alright!" Hu Lili seemed hesitant and reluctant at the mention of work, but the thought of being left alone at the educated youth settlement made her a little scared. Long Lifan said she understood; after all, she was a pampered young lady!

There were many children on the mountain, especially the village children, running and jumping around. Some were gathering firewood, some were digging for wild vegetables, and most were simply playing around.

The two then parted ways. There were many people on the mountain, so they weren't worried about encountering any danger. Long Lifan saw a little girl gathering firewood alone, so she walked up to the girl and asked softly, "Little sister, are you all alone?"

Upon hearing this, the girl looked up at the beautiful woman in front of her and nodded gently.

"May I have your name!"

Qi Fangfang

"Qi Fangfang! That's a very nice name, and it sounds lovely! Why don't you play with them!"

The little girl was happy when Long Lifan praised her name, but she became dejected when she heard the second half of the sentence: "They won't play with me. They say I'm a landlord's child, not a good child, and don't deserve to play with them!"

Long Lifan suddenly remembered that during this period there was still a class distinction based on social class, and most people were prejudiced against those with a bad social class!

"Sister, do you also look down on me because I'm from a landlord's family?" Qi Fangfang asked weakly.

"How could that be? We can't control what we're born into. As long as we haven't done anything harmful, we're good kids. It's definitely wrong of them to think that way!"

"Really!" Qi Fangfang's eyes lit up; this was the first time someone hadn't looked down on her background.

"Sister, here, have some!" Qi Fangfang carefully took out a few berries that looked like wild grapes from her pocket and said proudly, "I found these on a hillside. I'm the only one who knows where this place is."

Looking into the little girl's hopeful eyes, Long Lifan felt it was difficult to refuse her, fearing she might overthink things.

"Tsk tsk tsk, so sour and sweet!" Long Lifan had never eaten such a sour fruit before.

"Sister, do you like to eat this? If you do, I'll take you there!" Qi Fangfang shared her secret hideout without hesitation.

"Okay, call me anytime you're free!" Long Lifan was also quite interested in the wild fruits, not that she wanted to eat them, but simply wanted to experience the fun of picking them.

"Okay, what's your name, sister?"

"Long Lifan!"

"Sister, your name is so beautiful!"

"Yours is good too! By the way, how old are you?"

"I'm 11 years old!"

She's eleven years old, five years younger than me. I thought she was only eight or nine when I saw how thin she was. It seems like she's been malnourished since childhood.